It is known that nitride semiconductor chips, for example, optoelectronic nitride semiconductor chips, may be permanently damaged or destroyed even by very small electrostatic discharges (ESD). If a substrate comprising sapphire is used in the production of such semiconductor chips, a crystal with a high dislocation density arises during epitaxial growth of a nitride semiconductor layer sequence. These dislocations act as leakage current paths, via which leakage currents flow in the case of an ESD load, which may lead to damage or destruction of the nitride semiconductor chip.
To prevent damage by electrostatic discharges, protective measures are needed. It is known from German patent publication DE 10 2009 060 750 A1 to provide an optoelectronic semiconductor chip with microdiodes integrated into a semiconductor layer sequence, which microdiodes provide protection from damage by electrostatic discharges. The microdiodes are formed by V-defects arranged in an active layer of the semiconductor layer sequence. The V-defects are created by selecting suitable growth parameters during epitaxial growth of the semiconductor layer sequence. This also leads, however, to a reduction in crystal quality in regions of the active layer arranged outside the V-defects, which may result in reduced light output in the case of a light-emitting diode semiconductor chip.